Where does the percentage collected from the lessons go towards?

This is a common question, and one that Iv'e often wondered about having taught at several different music schools in the past 28 years. Plymouth School of Music is very open and willing to talk with each teacher about financials as we have goals for growth and to help you get more students. It’s important for teachers to understand that it requires a great deal of money each month to not only keep up with the rent, liability insurance, heating and cooling bills, liability insurance, electric and internet, phone bills, credit card and ACH fees (for collecting payments) and all other incidentals like toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies. Add to this the amount of money that is required to advertise, retain, reactivate former and to get new students. Consider the lifetime value of a student as about 9-12 months and you'll see that we have to budget enough to spend on advertising to replace all students within a years time. I have heard of other studios in the area that pay their teachers upwards to 70% of the lesson rates, but where are they now?..out of business because the money desperately needed to grow a business wasn't where it needed to be: back into the business to help it grow!

Plain and simple: if you want to work for a studio that is always small, striving to make ends meet then you won’t have many students and your opportunities for the future will be limited. What’s more, there is a huge risk in owning operating and keeping a music school going. At the end of the day teachers get close the doors and watch things “fade into their rear view mirror” as they drive away, so to speak BUT as a business owner a lot of times your up  late into the night taking care of everything that makes the teachers jobs run smooth.